Three's a Charm

Yesterday Finnegan turned three. Here is of list of things Finnegan can do now that he could not do a year ago.

1. Voluntarily say, "I love you so so much." "You are my best friend." "I had a really fun time [eating/playing/watching animals/cleaning up my spills] with you."  All of these sentences are still infrequent enough to make my HEART MELT when they are delivered unprompted.

2. Choose his own clothes. These days that means everyday includes a fireman's jacket and helmet with boots. He's very serious about this uniform. He receives lots of compliments from people on the street and in stores when he walks by in a full firefighter uniform, and his response is always an unsmiling "thank you." And then he scans the space for emergencies.

3. Name most types of animals along with their habitats and diets. Seriously. He can differentiate between primates, and he knows that orangutans live in Indonesia and gorillas live in the jungles of Africa and eat leaves. This knowledge extends to construction machines too. The animal proficiency makes me proud, the construction knowledge makes me nervous- a sign that he's already surpassed Clark and me. Just the other day he asked if he could play with his back hoe. I handed it to him and he said, "That is the bulldozer. May I have the backhoe? PLEASE?!?!?!?!?"

4. About a million other things that I'm trying to keep up with. And while I attempt to keep up with him, I'm also trying to wrap my head around the idea that he has grown so much in one short year.

And here are a few things Clark and I can do now that we couldn't/didn't do a year ago.

1. Exploit and negotiate. We're shameless about exploiting the good habits of Finn's idols: Firefighters brush their teeth everyday. Twice. Bears eat full plates of chicken, and flamingos love extra blueberries on their oatmeal. A choo choo train delivered this peanut butter. These are the sentences that keep our days running smoothly now.

2. Have genuine fun playing and talking with Finn. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed spending time with Finn, but in the past, my responses to his antics were to support him and make him feel comfortable and loved. Now, the things he says make us genuinely burst out laughing. He's as entertaining and fun as a night out on the town.

3. Treasure the baby/little kid habits he still holds. There are still a few words he pronounces adorably wrong. He still wants to snuggle before bed and first thing in the morning. Sometimes I'll indulge him and spoon feed him yogurt. By year three, we realize how fleeting this time is, so we hold on to each of these moments knowing they are few.

And here are a few photos from his birthday!

Walking his party invitations to the mailbox

In they go!

The night before his birthday, Finn asked, "Can we drink hot chocolate by the fireplace?"
I mean, who could say no to that?!

Making birthday cupcakes!

The finished product

The party theme: jungle animals 

The party got a little crazy

Offering drinks to his friends

We made him stop for  a moment and take pictures with mom and dad.

Celebrating the announcement of birthday cake time!

And now I will apologize in advance for the gazillion photos of Finn blowing out his candles. Clark captured so many good ones, I couldn't decide which to post.